Nick Falzone (John Cusack) is a confident, accomplished air traffic controller whose life is turned upside down when drifter Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) joins his tight-knit work team and threatens to drive him insane. Stakes are high and pressure is constant in the world of air traffic control, making the line between excellence and failure dangerously thin. While jokes provide the team of controllers with an important release from their stressful occupation, a narrow division exists between teasing and animosity.